Current issue: 58(4)
Seed mass within any plant species is one of the least plastic components of plant structure. The aim of this study was to analyse the variation in the seed mass of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) in relation to three environmental factors: soil fertility, mean temperature and precipitation during seed filling period. Data published earlier on seed mass of these species on different sites and different years was used in the study.
The seed mass of both species was independent of soil fertility (forest type) but did vary between different years. It is hypothesized that if the seed-ripening summer is warmer than average, Scots pine seed mass tends to be smaller. In this study, seed mass varied independently of the amount of precipitation during the ripening summer. However, generalization of the results requires further study.
The PDF includes an abstract in English.
The structure and functional responses of roots in planted seedlings when acclimatizing at the planting site are reviewed. A wide range of methods for classifying roots has been employed, and the terminology used is not uniform. Roots can be classified by their morphology, origin, and function. The temporal and spatial variation of soil temperature, moisture, structure, and concentration of nutrients are among the most important properties to which root systems acclimatize. In order to reliably describe the function of the root system, several parameters usually have to be measured. Studies on the root-soil interface have indicated that roots are not necessarily in continuous contact with soil. The control mechanism of root growth is inadequately known and theoretically formulated. Generally, only the mass needed for water and nutrient uptake has been allocated to the roots. However, the amount of photosynthates allocated to the roots is high. Acclimatization of seedlings out at the planting site is a complicated process which is influenced by the growing conditions at both the nursery and at the site. The function, distribution and structure of roots are controlled by the environment in a way similar to the shoot, but the control mechanism is imperfectly known.
The PDF includes an abstract in English.
The winter 1986–87 was unusually cold; the snow cover remained thin and consequently the soil froze to a considerable depth. In spite of the severe frost, the lowest temperatures measured at the ground surface was -10.3°C and in the soil at the depth of 10 cm -5.8°C. The temperature sum of the following summer was unusually small and the soil frost melted more slowly than usual. The winter frosts did not have a decisive influence on the survival of planted seedlings.
The PDF includes an abstract in English.
The seed crop of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is predicted with the help of mean monthly temperatures during May–August one and two years before the flowering year. The prediction models were made separately for Lapland and for the rest of Finland. The models are based on 10-year periods of seed crop measurements and climatic data. The total number of time series was 59.
In Lapland, Norway spruce flowered abundantly and produced an abundant seed crop after warm July–August and two years after cool July–August. In other parts of Finland, warm June and July produced a good flowering year, especially if these months were cool two years before the flowering year.
In Lapland, Scots pine flowered abundantly if the whole previous growing season was warm. Elsewhere in Finland, a cool June preceded prolific flowering in the coming year if the rest of the growing season was considerably warmer than the average.
The prediction models explained 37–49 % of the variation in the size of the seed crop. The occurrence of good and poor seed years was usually predicted correctly. Using the presented models, the prediction of the seed crop is obtainable 1.5 year for Norway spruce and 2.5 year for Scots pine before the year of seed fall.
The PDF includes an abstract in English.
Methods involving the use of moving averages, trend surfaces and their combination are compared in deriving local values of monthly mean temperatures and precipitation sums from the observations made by the Finnish Meteorological Office. Correlation between meteorological variables and sea index, lake index and height above sea level were used in the trend surface method and in the combined method. Combined method, with a trend surface calculated from means of a long time period, was the most reliable method to estimate long local time series.
A method to calculate unbiased estimates of effective temperature sums from monthly mean temperatures is presented.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The use and problems of the sucrose inversion method for the study of forest humus and soil are discussed. The method is based on the temperature dependence of sucrose inversion, changes in rotation angle being determined with a circle polarimeter. Average temperatures and thermal sums for forest humus in different forests in Finland were measured, using this method, for a period of ca. 100 days. The results are not considered definitive but are regarded rather as examples. Average temperatures were somewhat higher in the humus of dry and poor heath forests than in that of moist and herb-rich forests, with exceptions that could be explicable by topographic position.
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The significance of water budget in June and July for forest and peatland vegetation, and consequent effects on fauna, climate and agriculture has been studied.
In June, the difference between evaporation and precipitation is greater than it is later in the summer. North of the line zero difference of evaporation and precipitation, coinciding with a line of sharp change in forest vegetation, the uppermost part of podsol remains wet throughout the summer. During July, the line of zero difference moves from north to south over the greater part of Finland, run-off being minute and podsol at the driest in this month. This line, indicating the length of the period with evaporation greater than precipitation and causing a sharp change in forest vegetation, in frequency of peatlands, amount of growing stock productive capacity of forests etc. This line is significant also for cultivation: because of the lower evaporation north of this line, night temperature below the freezing point often appear in summer.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The study was an attempt to assess, from a theoretical viewpoint and with the techniques of measurement in mind, the usability respiration and cumulative respiration in the observation of the progress of seed germination in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), as well as the influence of air temperature substrate moisture and the stage of physiological development of seeds on respiration. Furthermore, the reserve nutrient consumption and the possible uptake of mineral nutrients were kept under observation during the 9–11 days after seeding.
The results showed that the stage of physiological development of the seeds can be rather well described by the means of cumulative CO2 release. There was a strong interaction in the CO2 release between the moisture of the substrate and the air temperature. It seems to be to great extent due to differences in the rate of development in the early phases of germination. The CO2 release from seeds showed a close correlation with percentage germinated seeds.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The objective of this investigation was to study the influence of stand density of white birch (Betula pubescens Ehrl.) on the minimum temperatures in the stand during the growing season, and the actual minimum temperatures of the leading shoot of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) seedlings growing in the open. The 40-year-old uniform white birch stand was situated in 142 m above the sea level in Southern Finland. The stand was treated with thinnings of three different densities in 1961.
Air temperature was recorded in four sample plots at heights of 0.1 m, 0.5 m, 1.0 m, 2 m and 4 m. In the stand of moderate density, temperatures were measured at heights of 6.0 m, and in the stand of full density at 6.0 m, 8.0 m and 10.0 m.
The temperature differences between stands of various densities proved to be rather small. Especially the thinnest stand differed very little from the open area. The soil surface has in all cases been warm compared with the higher air layers indicating meadow-fog-type by Geier (1965). On cloudy or windy weather all the temperature profiles in the various stands resembled each other. The difference between the air temperature and temperature of the spruce shoot was greatest at midnight and decreased steadily thereafter.
The problem in using shelter stands for spruce regeneration areas is that optimum shelter stand density is difficult to define. Already a thin shelter stand causes drawbacks to the young seedlings, but in order to be effective enough against early frosts, the shelter stand should be comparatively dense.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
An explorative study on wind conditions in a well-managed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand was made in Southern Finland. The wind velocity was recorded continually with two cup anomometers from April to August, 1964. The two levels used were 2 m and 9 m. The wind velocity was lower at 2 m than within the canopy at 9 m. The dependence on the absolute wind velocity at 9 metres was logarithmic. The wind velocity did affect the difference between daily minimum temperatures at the two levels; the difference in the maximum temperatures was affected only in May and August.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The determination of biologically most favourable strip width in peatlands to be drained has been hindered by lack of information of the temperature conditions in the surface peat and in the air close to the ground after drainage of different intensities. Temperature measurements were carried out on peatlands drained to different degrees in Central Finland in the summers of 1960 and 1961. The ground water level in the measuring points, and the strip width served as the criterion for differences in water condition.
When the drainage became more intensive, the temperature of the surface peat decreased. However, temperature differences were small, and discernible only when the differences of water conditions were considerable. The effect of strip condition to temperature seems to be of similar nature than the ground water level. Even in extreme cases temperature differences due to different drainage intensity were relatively small, and seldom exceeded 2°C.
Differences in temperature dependent on the growing stock may be as high as 10°C. Thus, the temperature of the surface peat may be dependent on factors more important than temperature differences caused by aspects of drainage. A well-drained peatland is coldest at the beginning of a growing season compared with poorly drained peatland. The temperature differences increase deeper in the peat. This is caused by the better heat conductivity of the moist peat. Also, daily variations in temperature in the surface peat are large in moist peat.
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The aim of the investigation was to estimate the effect of climate on the temperature observations and heating of buildings. Temperature data of observation stations in Finland and in the neighbouring countries near Finnish borders, in all 190 stations, was collected during heating season.
Heating season begins in the northern border of Finland in 20th of July, in Rovaniemi oin the Northern Finland in the middle of August, and 5th of September in the Southern coast of the country. Similarly, the heating season ends in 2.-10.6. in Southern and Central Finland, in June in Northern Finland, and in the middle of June in the Northernmost Finland, where heating season continued almost the whole year. In Southern Finland the length of heating season was 280 days. In the coldest heating season in 1942-1942 the heating decree-days increased most in the province of Varsinais-Suomi in Southern Finland. The increase decreased towards North. In the warmest heating season in 1929-1930 decrease of heating decree-days was similar in almost the whole country. The data can be used to define how different weather conditions affect the need of fuel.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
Temperatures needed in extracting Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seeds is relatively high, however, there is little information on its effect on germination of the seeds. This survey aimed at studying how different temperatures affect both extraction result and germination of Scots pine seeds. Comparisons between different temperatures (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 ºC) were made from cones collected from same sample trees, three trees in total.
Temperatures 20 and 30 ºC resulted in incomplete opening of the cones, and gave thus smaller amount of seeds. Complete extraction requires at the least the temperature of 40 ºC. The result is slightly better in 50 ºC, but germination of the seeds is little lower. Temperatures 60 and 70 ºC improve the results, but in the cost of germination. The main reason for lower germination percentage was that the higher temperatures release more empty and defective seeds from the cones. Results of different sample trees were different due to, for instance, quality and size of cones. Higher temperatures accelerated the extraction. According to the study, perfect extraction in 40 ºC requires longer extraction time than when the temperature of 50 ºC is used. In practice, 50 ºC temperature or even little higher temperatures can be used when the extraction time is shorter. Decessive factors in choosing the temperature would be the humidity of cones and length of extraction time.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
The article discusses the thermal conditions in the northern limits of trees and some bushes in Finland. Temperature is the most important limiting factor for distribution of plant species. Precipitation variations, however, are small in Finland. The article lists the main features of thermal conditions during the different seasons in different parts of Finland. The northern limits and the thermal condition of the area are described for the following species: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), mezereon, buckthorn, common alder, linden, elm, maple, hazel, ash, oak, hybrid mountain ash, yew and Swedish whitebeam.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The height growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings were observed in Korkeakoski and Evo in Southern Finland in 1925-1928. The growth was slow in the beginning of the growing season, increased after that to decrease again towards the end of the growing season. The height growth begun in May, reached the fastest growth rates in June, and ended in June-July. According to the earlier studies, the length of the height growth of Scots pine is dependent on the temperature of the previous summer. This study showed that warm temperatures of the same summer promote height growth, and low temperatures slow it down. Also the daily growth fluctuates, being highest during the afternoon and slowest during the early morning. The daily growth is dependent on temperature.
Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) begin the height growth in average 9 days later than Scots pine. Compared to pine, the speed of growth in spruce decreases slower towards the late summer.
The volume 34 of Acta Forestalia Fennica is a jubileum publication of professor Aimo Kaarlo Cajander. The PDF includes a summary in German.